Lollipop is now on 25.6 percent, Marshmallow on 0.3 percent of active Android devices

Google has again released an update on the distribution numbers for each version of Android, with Lollipop rising by another 2.1 percent, and Marshmallow making its first appearance on the chart. The new numbers show that Marshmallow is on 0.3 percent of devices, and Lollipop is now installed on 25.6 percent of active Android devices. This is up from 23.5 percent last month. KitKat is down a little again, from 38.9 percent to 37.8 percent, and Jelly Bean is now at 29 percent, down from 30.2 percent.

As for the rest, Ice Cream Sandwich is sitting at 3.3 percent, a small drop from the previous 3.4, and Gingerbread is holding steady at 3.8 percent. Finally, Froyo remains the same at 0.2 percent. It's great to see the adoption of Lollipop continue to grow, and it will be interesting to see where Marshmallow ranks in the coming months.

Reader comments

Lollipop is now on 25.6 percent, Marshmallow on 0.3 percent of active Android devices

The fractionalization of Android is a huge issue.
Hopefully Google and the OEM phone manufactures can work together to reduce the number and wide range of Android versions on the market.
There are well over 100 different versions and it makes it extremely hard for developers to create apps that work on all android devices.
That in turn gives the entire android community a bad rep because so many apps crash or flat out don't work on a lot of devices.

Yep it happens even on Nexus devices too. I own a Nexus 6 and until I came to Android from iOS and I've had more app crashes than I had the entire time on was on iOS and I'm fed up with it and with Android. I'm going back iOS which is perfect. Much quicker updates and much longer term software updates. I just prefer Apple's way of doing things. I prefer iOS. Android is more hassle than its worth. IOS just works. The fragmentation of Android is laughably embarrassing now.

these numbers really don't say much. is the use of one os over the other a matter of familiarity/convenience? or is accessibility to the upgrade the issue? from what I read in these forums, there is no shortage of frustration/confusion with the android 6/marshmallow ota which allegedly has been available to nexus users for over a month.

Meaningless numbers that many will bemoan and complain about. Strange that this only happens in the mobile space. If it were the case on the Windows desktop the same people would probably be screaming about the injustice (ex. my current version works great, leave me alone. I'll worry about a new version when I get a new PC).

In comparison, seems the mobile tech media have many trained/convinced the latest is to be envied and always sought after without question. :(

If only. There is no OTA available to Nexus 7 owners on build LMY 48T and while I would be perfectly happy to flash the new version I am less keen on having to restore all my apps and files. There seems to be no sign of the direct download in the UK yet.

Android os is open source. They can't control what others do with their updates. It's a curse and a blessing because you have different ui's that add lots of features. Something that Apple takes years to introduce. If you don't like that or don't understand that then I guess that's an issue with you. Google makes most of their money from ads and Apple from their app store so things will be different. The funny thing is that an Android phone on lollipop to me still has better features than ios 9. So it's a matter of what you find useful.

I asked the question because a lot of the things that keep your phone up to date are in Google Play Services, so it's just as relevant as the OS version. But the people who like to complain about 'fragmentation' or slow updates, often ignore this statistic.

You can fix some security problems with Google play services. For example there was recently a security patch to the Android System Web View, something that in the past would have required a full system OTA, but now can just be pushed via the play store to 95% of users.

This is sad. Reason so many people complain their phone is junk is because it's running a bug infested version that never received fixes. Oh well. Until Google enforces some type control it will be the wild west.

That's quite a generalization. I have three devices; OG Note 10.1 and Note 2 frozen on Jelly Bean and a Note 4 frozen on KitKat and all three still work great! So having an older version of Android does NOT equate to "buggy" performance. I've actually found the opposite, that upgrading to the latest version (when available) is more likely to experience buggy behavior! So be careful what you wish for....

I've owned THREE Android phones. THEY'RE ALL JUNK!!! I will never waste a dime on another one. I'm so effin stupid that I ditched my boring, PERFECT iPhone 6 for a Nexus 6! What an idiot! Come Black Friday I will purchase an iPhone 6S Plus. My Nexus 6 will get tossed into the bottom of a drawer where it belongs! NEVER AGAIN GOOGLE! NEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You can't base Android experience off couple phones. Just remember that Apple phones all come from same manufacturer. Android could come from a horrible company. You could own a moto g and then own a Samsung galaxy s6 and have completely different experience. That's just the way it is with Android since it's an open os. Also, what about the nexus 6 didn't you like? Just like someone doesn't like the iPhone 6 because it didn't have widgets. It could just be something personal you don't like. There's so many things.

Working at a prepaid phone dealer, this is exactly what I deal with on a daily basis. People that don't follow technology or more elderly people just think the phone is crap when the slightest thing don't work right and you can't tell them no different, some go back to a flip phone because they just can't handle the change or don't want to have to learn a new thing.

I totally agree. I have a Nexus 6. I switched from an iPhone 5s despite its small screen size, it was perfect for me which I've come to realise. I started with a Moto G LTE 2nd Gen and then bought a Nexus 6 and have been frustrated with the lag and crashes and slow phase process with security patches and updates. I'm going back iOS and getting an iPhone 6s Plus early next year at the latest and dumping my Nexus 6.

Android does not always support all features on all phones either. My Moto E running lollipop does not support screen casting. If the hardware cannot support the feature, a software upgrade will not fix it.

Agree. But I think Google could do more to help with updates. I think updates should be more to do with if your phones hardware can support the upgrade rather than the OEM choosing whether or not you get the upgrade.

Of course Apple remove many features when supporting older devices with software updates, its also to help older devices run the latest version of iOS more smoothly. Anything older than an iPhone 5s would struggle to run iOS 9 as smooth. But Apple supports their devices far longer than Google does and that's the bottom line.

Hi, anybody that knows if the Asus padfone X 16GBfor ATT(not the mini version)can get lollipop or marshmallow update!! I really want this phone, but don't want to b stuck with kitkat. Please let me know any good news or links that could help me....thanks

If you didn't get lollipop by now, your definitely not getting marshmallow.
Most likely your not getting either.
Asus isn't know for updates, they have gotten a little better with very recent phones like the Zenfone2
But I wouldn't expect much for that device.

Marshmallow is still brand new and mostly the Nexus phones have it...no one else.

OEMs should upgrade their two year old devices to Marshmallow and not force people to buy new phones every two years or less. Then the numbers for each Android OS upgrade will go up like they do for Apple's iOS.

There's no money in that. Apple has plenty of profit built into their system. It makes sense for them to continue support beyond 2 years for their devices. They get a cut of every app sale, music download, movie/tv show purchase, and book/magazine purchase or subscription through their various electronic store fronts. Android OEM's don't. Once that device is sold, very little, if any, revenue is generated from it. Flagships get the support because some of the burden is factored into the price, not so with low to mid rangers.

More power to you. I'm just noting this because lots of people say things like, "If only company X would put stock Android on their phone, they'd sell a lot more phones." If stock Android was so compelling, you'd think Nexus would sell a little better than 0.3% of Android phones.

Yep then buy a nexus cause I'm sure you wont find another one of those in the wild just saying . By the way I thought that's how you suppose to run a business marketing and advertising . Guess that's why Samsung is the only android oem making a profit

I prefer it that way to be honest. the past couple of iOS updates that were pumped out to the masses have resulted in a patch a few days later. by the time I get my android update, those bugs are worked out :)

I prefer Apple's way with updates and the way they do things. Fed up with the slow updates, and the way they do it region to region, even with Nexus. I care about updates but I'm not technically savvy enough to flash my phone and do not want to void my warranty. I've decided I'm leaving Android and going back to iPhone with an iPhone 6s Plus. Apple is better all round than Google, less hassle and it just works and that's all I care about.

That was unfortunate what happened with iOS 8.0.1 when a lot of people's iPhones were bricked when I updated the 8.0.1 update had been pulled. So I was quite fortunate that I missed the update. There's no excuse for Google to update in "waves' pretty sure Google has been doing this before iOS 8.0.1 gate. The bottom line is Apple is much more efficient with updates than Google. Heck Apple does pretty much everything better than Google when it comes to mobile OS.

I just got lollipop for a nexus 7 2013 about a month ago. I couldn't find a 16GB OTA version anywhere.
People can say all they want to go find it and update it yourself, but can't we put a little of the onus on Google to have the infrastructure in place to be able to push an update to all nexus devices in less then 6 months.
Nexus owners may not make up the typical demographic of Android user, but those non technically inclined Nexus owners who are not complete oblivious to larger version updates I would imagine get an unpleasant taste in their mouth comparing the updates they receive compared to ios users.